A special gift

March 16, 2014

Editor,

There’s a lot of Billys, but this one would become special to me.

On Saturdays, my sister and I work at the hospital. The temperature was in the low digits. After getting to work, I looked over to the right of the waiting area. There was a man with a backpack, a guitar leaning against another bag with his belongings; he was looking scruffy. He had been there all night waiting for someone to pick him up.

He began to chat with my sister, Hazel, and I. He took a candy bar from the cart. He began digging for change and counted out 94 cents; the candy bar was a dollar.

While digging a medallion came out, he showed it to me. On the back was the Serenity Prayer. I told Billy that was one of my favorite prayers, I had said it many times to get through rough times.

Handing it back to him, he said “no, I want you to have it.”

He called several times for someone to pick him up. No one came.

He came over to the desk and thanked Hazel and I. He will be in my thoughts and prayers for a long time to come.

Soon he was gone and out of sight. It pays to be kind to the less fortunate, down on their luck. The medallion means so much to me. Thank you Billy, where ever you are.